No Cannibalization – Over 75 Percent of Online Gamblers are New to The Brand

In yet another instance of data showing that cannibalization of land-based casinos is simply not occurring due to online gambling, Boyd Gaming released its July 2014 revenue statement. For the first time since online gambling launched in New Jersey in late November, Boyd Gaming has broken even. Not bad for an industry that is only 9 months old, according to Keith Smith, the Chief Executive Officer of Boyd Gaming. Legal gambling is represented by the company’s partnership with Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment. Smith said recent data showed that more than 75% of the New Jersey online gambling participants frequenting his company’s website “are not active players of Borgata”. Several other important studies have showed that the theory claiming cannibalization of physical casino revenue by online casinos is unfounded. Data has consistently proven the same claim – that online gamblers in the United States generally are not the same type that enjoy traveling to a land-based casino.

Pappas Says Racetrack Exclusion Keeping California Out of the United States Online Gambling Industry

United States Poker Players Alliance Director John Pappas is concerned about pending legislation in California which would legalize online gambling there. California hopes to join the US online gambling industry as the fourth state to do so. Currently 13 Native American tribes have joined in offering an online poker proposal. There are also 2 poker bills that have been introduced to the State Assembly and the Senate of California. And 3 established, popular California poker rooms have signed a deal with PokerStars. But many of those agreements and legislative packages exclude California horse racetracks from joining in the online gambling industry. Pappas believes that is what has been holding up passage of legal online gambling legislation in the Golden State, not the often-cited bad actor clause.

Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Representative Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, have partnered up to write a piece of legislation (The Restoration of America’s Wire Act) which would outlaw online gambling in the United States. There currently is no piece of legislation at the federal level which criminalizes an individual US citizen for betting online. But this new piece of legislation would. However, US legislators took their August recess without passing it into law. The legislative package has been referred to committees on both sides of the aisle, but has moved nowhere. A congressional activity monitoring the website, Govtrack.us, recently said they give the bill a 1% chance of passage in the Senate and 8% in the House. Union Gaming Group analyst Robert Shore says that passage in New Jersey, Delaware and Nevada of online gaming legislation gives U.S. Congress “little incentive” to act now on any type of online gaming ban.

New Jersey Online Gambling Revenue Surges, Tops $10 Million in July

Chris Christie made life hard on Garden State Internet gambling revenue announcements. He claimed more than $180 million in first-year revenue from the New Jersey online interactive gaming industry, before it was a reality. Those unrealistic claims are the target of finger-pointing every month when poker and casino revenue from state regulated websites is reported in NJ. However, the Atlantic City-based online gaming industry in the state recently turned the corner. $10.1 million in revenue was taken in by the 6 New Jersey online gambling partnerships in July, a full $600,000 more than in June. As cold weather begins to land upon the Jersey shore line, analysts predict Internet gambling numbers in that state will rise even further, as Garden State residents will be reluctant to get out and about in the winter weather.

Pennsylvania Launching Simulated Online Gambling Website

For some time now Pennsylvania has been a legitimate candidate to enter the United States online gambling industry as the fourth state to do so. The company took a bite out of New Jersey casino revenue when it legalized land-based gambling. And now the first tentative steps towards online gaming for real money have begun. The brick-and-mortar Parx Casino is launching a “free play” online gaming website in the fourth quarter this year. The company hopes to develop interest, as well as a player pool of online gamblers, in its interactive gaming website so they can flip the switch to real money action when Internet gambling law is passed in that state. Greenwood Racing owns Parx, and has teamed up with the GameAccount Network to launch the free play gambling site.